Florence chef wins Alabama Seafood Cook-Off, will represent state
A chef from Florence has won the annual Alabama Seafood Cook-Off and the privilege of representing the state at the 2024 Great American Seafood Cook-Off.
Alabama Gulf Seafood announced that Chef Kyle Ogden of the restaurant Odette in Florence won the state competition with a dish titled “Spring Tide,” featuring a pompano filet with a crab and shrimp mousse. The win came with a $2,500 prize.
Ogden was one of four finalists selected to participate in the state competition, which was held Monday, May 6, at The Wharf in Orange Beach. The win makes him the successor to Chef Brody Olive of Voyagers at Perdido Beach Resort. Olive won last year’s state competition, then went on to win at the national level, being crowned King of American Seafood at the 2023 Great American Seafood Cook-Off. Olive is the second Alabama chef to hold that honor, after Jim Smith of The Hummingbird Way in Mobile, who won in 2011.
Chef Kyle Ogden of the Florence restaurant Odette won the 2024 Alabama Seafood Cook-Off with a dish titled “Spring Tide,” featuring a pompano filet with a crab and shrimp mousse. (Billy Pope/ADCNR)Billy Pope/ADCNR
Ogden seems to have exceeded his own expectations: According to Alabama Gulf Seafood, he said going in that his goal “is to honestly just have fun and to hopefully bring a third trophy back to Odette. I am looking forward to seeing some new techniques from my competitors and to really pushing what I am capable of producing in the time frame we have.”
The Great American Seafood Cook-Off will be held this summer in New Orleans. As he did in Orange Beach, sous chef Taylor Bradley will accompany Odgen in that competition.
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The other finalists and their dishes were: Emilo Urban of CoastAL Orange Beach, whose Fruits of the Gulf featured spiced Gulf shrimp; Robbie Nicolaisen of The Hound in Auburn, whose dish combined “Triggerfish, Wahoo, crab and more;” and Laurence Agnew of Villaggio Grille at The Wharf with a dish titled “King Billy Whelkomes You” featuring “Charcoal Alabama Croaker and a Gulf Whelk and Admiral Oyster stew.”
From left: ADCNR Commissioner Chris Blankenship; Chef Kyle Ogden of the restaurant Odette in Florence; sous chef Taylor Bradley; and Chef Jim Smith, representing the Alabama Seafood Marketing Commission. (Billy Pope/ADCNR)Billy Pope/ADCNR
Finalists were chosen based on anonymous recipe submissions, according to Alabama Gulf Seafood. Dishes prepared in a timed, head-to-head competition are judged in five categories: Presentation, general impression and serving methods; creativity and practicality; composition and harmony of ingredients; correct preparation and craftsmanship; flavor, taste and texture.
For more details, visit eatalabamaseafood.com.